The Department of Internal Affair's response to our request under the Official Information Act casts doubt on Internal Affairs' claim that five year passports are necessary for New Zealanders to retain visa-free status to many parts of the world.

A longer validity period would mean fewer visa free arrangements with other countries (and potentially higher travel costs as New Zealand travellers need to apply for more visas. More delays would be a likely result because new features could only be introduced every ten years).

So we asked what counties expressed concern and what countries did New Zealanders gain visa free access because of the move to five year passports in 2005.

Officials could not provide a single document that supported the Department's claim that ten year passports would jeopardise New Zealand's visa-free arrangements with other countries

In recent weeks the Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs have told media that ten year passports are necessary for security. But not a single country has expressed concern with New Zealand’s old passport regime.

It appears that passport bureaucrats are inflating justifications for the existing regime rather than reflecting genuine concerns about passport security.

The prediction that other Anglo-Saxon countries would move to five year passports was wrong

The advice that prompted the last government to cut the term of passports has proved to be wrong. The documents also show that officials were wrong in advice given to the Government in 2003 that Australia, the UK and the US intended introduce five year passports. All three countries have remained at ten years, with others moving from five to ten.

Come on Mr Dunne, do the right thing, cut the passport tax and reintroduce ten year passports.

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